SONGS FOR THE BROTHERS!

He was joined onstage in London by Pulp and Stereophonics for a tribute fundraiser gig...

Richard Ashcroft, Stereophonics and Pulp were amongst the acts to play in LONDON last night (April 18) in a tribute fundraiser for legendary music industry plugger SCOTT PIERING.

Richard Ashcroft, made a rare live appearance, playing three songs – ‘Lucky Man’, ‘You On My Mind In My Sleep’ and ‘Bittersweet Symphony’. Playing just a solo guitar, he took to the stage in a dark suit and aviator sunglasses. Like all the performers, he dedicated at least one of his tracks – ‘You On My Mind…’ – to Piering. Piering was a radio plugger who helped break each of the acts on the bill before his premature death from cancer in 2000.

Speaking to NME.COM yesterday ahead of the show, Ashcroft was effusive in his praise of Piering.

“[Scott] made me feel sane when most of the people made me feel insane. He was in it for the right reasons. He made me feel like I wasn’t as insane as the rest of the business was telling me that I was,” he said.

“He was the antithesis of what’s going on now in our popular music culture. He was battling to get music on the radio when to get a track on the radio was impossible. It was great for him to see a lot of groups that he really championed come through.”

Stereophonics closed their brief set with a cover of The Beatles’ ‘Don’t Let Me Down’. Their semi-acoustic performance – drummer Stuart Cable were, not for the first time this year, absent from the line-up – also included ‘Local Boy In The Photograph’ and ‘Step On My Old Size Nines’.

Pulp were the final band of the evening including ‘Babies’ and current hit ‘Bad Cover Version’ in their set. They were one of the few acts to perform as a full band.

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Propellerheads and Coldcut DJed until 3am after the live acts finished. Coldplay and JJ72 were amongst the crowd. Organisers hope to raise £25,000 from ticket sales. A DVD is also being planned for release later in the year.